


The One Where Bellamy Babysits

by Kacka



Series: I'll Be There For You ('Cause You're There For Me Too) [4]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Babies, Background Relationships, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-06
Updated: 2016-03-06
Packaged: 2018-05-25 02:34:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6176782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kacka/pseuds/Kacka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bellamy is confident he can handle watching Miller and Monty's daughter for a few hours, but that's before he makes an unexpected discovery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The One Where Bellamy Babysits

**Author's Note:**

> There are so many things I want to write and I've had so little time recently! I hope you're all coping okay with all that's going on in canon. Be nice to Clexa shippers and enjoy the fluff.

“This is going to sound kind of weird,” Miller says, right as Bellamy lifts his beer to his lips, “but do you know any high school-aged girls?”

Bellamy succeeds in not spitting his drink out, but only just.

“I hope that is the weirdest thing you ever ask me. Why, why, _why_ do you want to know?”

“We need somebody to babysit this weekend,” Miller sighs, taking a sip of his own drink. “We got tickets to the game on Saturday. If you know any high school dudes that works too, but I remember myself in at that age and it’s less likely they’d be willing to deal with Mel’s poop for ten bucks an hour.”

The game Miller is referring to is the basketball game between Ark U, where Bellamy teaches, and their rival school, Mount Weather University. Every single one of his students is sure to already have plans for the game, insofar as drunken debauchery can be called a plan, so it’s unlikely he’ll be of any help in finding a sitter.

Miller and his husband only moved into the city a few months ago when Monty’s tech startup got bought out by a bigger company. Bellamy had been happy to reconnect with him, certain that even though the last time he'd seen Miller was when they broke up at the end of undergrad. They’d never been that serious and when they were going separate ways after graduation it seemed like a natural end to things. They'd parted with little drama and Bellamy still considered him a friend.

Bellamy had been happy for Miller when he’d seen on Facebook that he’d gotten married, and sent him a congratulations message. Over the past couple of years they’ve been keeping in touch a little better, so when Miller and Monty moved to the city with their daughter and didn’t know anybody, Bellamy was more than happy to include them in his social group. He already sees Gina all the time anyway; might as well add another ex into the mix.

“Sorry, Miller. I don’t know any high schoolers of any gender. But if you want, I can watch Mel while you guys are at the game.”

“Really? That would be awesome,” Miller says, slumping in his seat. “Between the move and the new jobs and the one-year-old, Monty and I haven’t gotten a lot of time to ourselves lately. I love my daughter, but I kind of miss my husband in a way I wasn’t expecting.” His smile turns apprehensive. “You sure you’re up for it, though? I know you helped raise Octavia, but she hasn’t been a baby for, like, two decades. Babies can be a lot to handle.”

“I’ll see if Clarke is free and wants to help,” he shrugs. “But even if she’s not, I’ll figure it out.”

Unfortunately, Clarke is busy.

“Sorry, Bell,” she says, her voice muffled because she’s rooting around in the bottom of the hall closet for something. “I’m actually going to the game. Gina and Raven got us tickets, so we’re having a girls day.”

“It’s fine,” he shrugs. He doesn’t really think he’ll need that much help; all babies really do is poop and eat and sleep, so he’s not worried. “I’m just saying, you’re going to be missing out a lot of adorable stuff. I hear that me holding a baby can be a pretty big turn-on.”

“I don’t doubt it,” she says, emerging triumphant with what appears to be a foam finger.

“Where did you get that?” He asks, dumbfounded. “You didn’t even go to Ark U.”

“I have my ways,” she says, enigmatic, as she reaches back into a box only to pull out face paints and a handful of ribbons. “Can I borrow one of your school shirts?”

“Hell yes,” he says immediately, offering a hand to help her off the floor. She grins and uses the leverage to bring herself up to press her lips against his, quick and firm.

“That’s what I thought.”

When Miller and Monty show up at Bellamy and Clarke’s apartment on Saturday to drop their daughter off, she’s napping hard.

“Thanks for doing this,” Monty says. Bellamy doesn’t know him all that well yet, but he’s found Miller’s husband to be consistently earnest and genuine, and he likes him a lot. “She’ll probably be hungry when she wakes up, so we’ll put some food in the fridge for her. Is there anything else you need to know?”

“Probably, but if I have questions I know how to Google. And text. You guys go have fun, we’ll be fine.”

Eventually he gets them out the door and, for lack of better things to do, turns the game on with the television muted so he won’t wake the kid. It’s mostly pre game analysis, and they’ve just passed tipoff when she wakes and starts fussing.

“Hey, Mellie,” he says soothingly, lifting her gently out of her carrier. “I’m Bellamy. I’m friends with your dads. Remember me?”

Being picked up by an unfamiliar person only makes her squirm and cry more.

“Yeah, okay, I get it,” he says, rubbing circles on her back and bouncing a little. It _has_ been a long time since he spent a significant amount of time with a baby, but it comes back to him like riding a bike. “You hungry? Let’s go see about that food.”

Despite his best efforts, she won’t calm. She refuses to eat anything, doesn’t like to be held but hates even worse to be put down, and reaches decibels with her screams that are impressive for such tiny lungs.

They’re pacing around the apartment– she’s closest to happy when they’re moving– and negotiating her willingness to accept her pacifier when she flails her arms unexpectedly and knocks it out of Bellamy’s hands. He groans when he sees that it’s bounced onto the bathroom floor, and as he awkwardly squats to pick it up while keeping Melanie upright, he catches sight of something else that makes his heart stop beating.

He wouldn’t have spotted it if he were standing, but as he’s currently eye level with the trashcan, he can see, under some crumpled tissues and empty toilet paper rolls, a box for a pregnancy test.

He grabs it gingerly, staring blankly at it on the counter as he washes Mel’s pacifier. He’s afraid to look inside it, but more afraid not to.

What if Clarke is pregnant?

They’ve been careful, though he knows these things happen. He loves her and is definitely going to marry her, definitely wants kids with her one day, but that’s all vague dreaming. None of it is exactly a plan, and he certainly wasn’t expecting it soon.

But if Clarke is pregnant, he wants to know.

So he balances Mel on one arm and opens the box with his free hand, trying very hard not to freak out. There are two little lines on the test, which indicates a positive result.

They’re having a kid.

His thoughts are racing and he feels a little lightheaded, so he flips the toilet lid down and almost falls onto it, cradling Melanie against his chest. She’s still whimpering and has snot running down her face now, which he automatically wipes with some toilet paper. He’s not sure his brain really told his hands to do that; his mind and body feel disconnected at the moment.

They’re going to be _parents_. Soon they’re going to have a crying, runny-nosed, inconsolable child of their own. He can’t even get this one to calm down; how is he supposed to be a dad?

The unhappy child in his arms gives a dramatic wail and it startles him back to reality.

First things, first: get through today.

Get through the next hour and a half of the game, get through at least another hour after that because he told Miller and Monty they should grab dinner while he’s on the clock, and _then_ freak out. Solid plan.

He tries everything in his power to get Mel to calm down: he sings to her, plays peek-a-boo, tries feeding her again, tries changing her, even pulls up pictures of her dads on Facebook in hopes that they can calm her down remotely. Nothing works, and by this point he’s almost as much of an emotional mess as the baby, so he grabs Mel’s bag, grabs his keys, and heads downstairs to see if his sister is at Grounders. Maybe she can talk one of them down.

He gets a lot of looks when he steps into Grounders with a crying child in his arms, ranging from sympathetic to annoyed.

“Lincoln,” he says, relieved to see his familiar face and blindingly green shirt. “Hey. Is O here?”

“No, she’s at the game with the girls,” he says, apologetic.

Bellamy catches himself before he swears in front of the kid, but it’s a near thing.

“Do you know anything about babies?” He asks, desperate. He’s looking down at Melanie’s distraught face and misses the expression that crosses Lincoln’s. “I’ve done everything I can think of, but I can’t get her to stop crying.”

“Let me see her,” Lincoln says after a beat, holding his hands out. Bellamy passes her over without hesitation, and it’s pretty humorous to see the big man next to such a tiny person, his normally even voice rising a little in pitch as he speaks to the baby, rocking her back and forth.

“Hey there, beautiful. I know how you feel. I get the same way when Bellamy goes on about the Bronze Age. Can I–” He offers Mel one of his fingers, gently prying her mouth open so he can see inside. “Ouch, looks like you’ve got a tooth coming in back there.” He looks up at Bellamy, flushing ever so slightly at his own baby talk. “That’s probably why she’s fussy. Does she have a teething ring or anything in her bag?”

Bellamy searches and comes up with one, walking in circles around the shop with Mel in his arms while they wait for the ring to get cold in the freezer. When he finally offers it to the child, she takes it and quiets like magic.

He sinks into a green armchair, overwhelmed, and doesn’t quite realize how he’s staring down at the baby in a mixture of panic and awe until Lincoln takes a seat next to him and says, “Are you okay, man?”

Bellamy swallows. He and Lincoln are friends, but mostly because they're both objects caught in Octavia’s orbit. Still, he needs to talk to someone, and everyone else he knows well enough to tell this piece of news is either otherwise occupied or Murphy, so he blurts out, “Clarke is pregnant.”

Lincoln’s eyebrows shoot up.

“Congratulations. Or not? I can’t tell. Are you happy about it?”

“I don’t know what I am,” Bellamy says, smoothing a finger over Mel’s cheek absentmindedly. “I just found the pregnancy test in the trash; I haven’t even had a chance to talk to Clarke yet.”

“Oh,” Lincoln says quietly. When Bellamy looks up at him, he’s staring at the baby. Bellamy can’t blame him; now that she’s settled down she’s really cute, her eyes bright and curious against her dark skin and darker hair. But there’s something else in Lincoln’s face.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Lincoln says too quickly. “I thought you and Clarke were pretty serious, though. Not, like, have-a-kid-right-now serious, but have-a-kid-one-day serious.”

“We are. It just caught me by surprise.” He looks down at Mel and imagines holding his own daughter in his arms. “I love Clarke and I’m gonna love our kid, but I don’t know if I’m ready to be a dad.”

Lincoln hums in acknowledgment but doesn’t say anything. Bellamy likes that Lincoln chooses his words carefully, knows that when he speaks he really means what he says.

“Sorry I’m dumping this all on you,” Bellamy continues. “You’re the first person I’ve seen since I found out. I just feel like by the time I talk to Clarke, I should maybe not be this freaked so I’m kind of verbally processing.”

“Bellamy–” Lincoln begins, but is interrupted by a crowd of whooping girls coming through the door, that Bellamy recognizes as Octavia, Clarke, Raven, and Gina.

He doesn’t even have time to appreciate the sight of Clarke in his shirt before Melanie makes a sound almost like a giggle at their rowdy antics and Clarke’s eyes zero in on the baby in his lap. From the way her eyes light up it seems like she’s not nearly as stressed as he is about everything.

“I take it we won?” He says, shooting for a breezy tone. Clarke’s frown tells him he didn’t quite make it.

“Only because we’re superior to the Mountain Men in every possible way. What’s wrong?” She asks, crouching next to them and slipping her finger into Mel’s tiny fist.

“Bellamy found a positive pregnancy test in your garbage,” Lincoln interrupts, and Bellamy shoots him a glare. He wasn’t going to bring this up in front of _people_. See if he tells Lincoln anything ever again.

“Oh,” Clarke breathes, her eyes flitting to Octavia, who has stiffened where she’s sitting on Lincoln’s lap, and then to Raven, who quickly excuses herself and Gina. She then looks to Bellamy, who is trying very hard to decipher her expression. It softens into a smile when she sees the agitation clear on his face.

“Bellamy, the test isn’t mine.”

“What do you mean, it’s not yours?”

“It’s mine,” Octavia cuts in. The square of her jaw tells him not to fight with her, that she’s standing her ground, that she’s made up her mind. He’s seen it countless times in his life, and he knows that it really means she’s afraid he won’t be happy for her.

“You’re having a baby?” He says, feeling a smile break out on his face. "I'm gonna be an uncle?"

“Yeah,” she says, tentative. “I didn’t want to take the test here, so Clarke let me use your bathroom.”

“O, that’s amazing.” Her grin is huge as she relaxes back into Lincoln’s arms. He can’t help adding, “This is what you want, right?”

“Of course it is,” she says, the fierceness returning to her posture. He holds the hand not supporting Mel up in surrender.

“Then I’m excited for you,” he assures her. “When are you due?”

“Sevenish months,” she says. “We’ll probably wait until after to get married. I want a fancy-ass wedding and I don’t want to have to worry about fitting into my dress.”

Lincoln starts when she says this and Bellamy bites back a grin because he’s pretty sure it’s karma.

“Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out."

Later, after Miller and Monty have picked Mel up and he and Clarke have the apartment to themselves, she asks, "So on a scale of one to ten, how much were you freaking out about me being pregnant?"

"About a five," Bellamy says, linking his hands where they rest at the small of her back. "When we have kids, I want them to be part of a plan."

"When?" She teases.

She's still wearing his shirt, still has an Ark U panther painted on her face (courtesy of Raven, so it looks more like a mouse to Bellamy), and there's no doubt in his mind that he wants to be with her for the rest of his life. But as far as he's concerned, that just means they have plenty of time to start a family. He's not in a hurry. 

So he smiles and shrugs and says, "Yeah. If it's up to me, there's no if. There's just when."

"Okay," she says, kissing his jaw. "But be warned: I want a whole bunch. I was a lonely kid. I want ours to have siblings."

"Deal. As long as I get you all to myself for a little while longer."

"I think we can manage that," she says, breathless as his lips move down her neck. "Now, you want to show me how much you like me in this shirt?"

And he does just that, because he _loves_ the sight of her in his shirt. He's only a little bitter when she keeps it in her drawer and pulls it out to sleep in regularly over the next few years, even as it gets worn and faded. The only person who ever wears it better is their daughter, though it's huge on her, and even when it's knotted at the bottom she can wear it like a dress. Watching it swamp her limbs as she jumps up and down, caught up in contagious excitement, it's just about the best thing he's ever seen. And from the smile Clarke gives him over their kid's brown curls, he can tell she thinks so, too.


End file.
